In virtually every fantasy football league, you’re going to need two starting running backs. That’s the game. How you get there is up to you. When fantasy football first came to the mainstream, virtually every pick in the first two rounds was a running back. Now that the schemes have changed and the game has evolved, the draft is more chaotic than ever. And the strategies are getting bolder and bolder.

Popular running back draft strategies are kind of like pants (hear me out). Skinny jeans were in style for a while, just like Zero RB. But lately baggy jeans have been making a comeback, as has Robust RB. And, as always, you can never go wrong wearing pants that fit normally while drafting a balanced team. A nice conservative look. Either way, we all still have to put our pants on one leg at a time and find two starting running backs.

2025 Fantasy Football Draft Strategy: Running Backs

In this article, we’re going to break down the different strategies and how to apply them. We’ll also give you some examples of players that you can target based on current ADP and our own rankings found in the 2025 Fantasy Alarm Draft Guide. That way, you can go into your drafts prepared for anything.

My rankings can be found here in the Dynamic Tier Rankings. I also do something called the Running Back Questionnaire that helps us figure out who is going to handle what role for these offenses. With that, you can look at your own format and decide who fits best into your scoring.

Robust RB Targets & Draft Strategy 

This strategy has always made the most sense for the “old heads” like myself. We grew up on the early 2000s strategy where you drafted running backs early and often. And that’s what this strategy is. Last year was arguably the best year we’ve had in the modern era for Robust RB, with running backs staying largely healthy and wide receivers suffering a lot more injuries than we typically see.

There are certainly some extreme variations of this strategy, but for me, it’s a simple as taking at least three players from the top 20 of our Dynamic Tier Rankings. Every team will need at least two starting running backs. In a typical 10 or 12-team league, that's 20-24 guys. If you take three, you are ahead of the game and can start one in the flex each week. Going four sets you up to make a trade or at least have depth, but it might be overkill.

We’ve color-coded the Dynamic Tier Rankings to show guys we love in green, guys we will consider at ADP in yellow, and guys we are fading in red. We really love the values on guys like Kenneth Walker and Alvin Kamara, who you can get in the fourth or sometimes even the fifth round. That allows you to mix at least one elite WR into your group somewhere in the first three rounds while you take the best available RBs.

If you’d like to see some examples of how Robust RB can be implemented in 2025, take a look at the Fantasy Alarm Mock Draft 1.0. For instance, Howard Bender started his draft with Bijan Robinson, AJ Brown, Kenneth Walker, RJ Harvey, Mike Evans, George Pickens, and Evan Engram. That gives him three high-end running backs while still filling his three starting WR spots and his TE spot. He then double-tapped QB later with Dak Prescott for safety and Justin Fields for upside. Drew Phelps, in the same draft, started with an even more aggressive Robust RB build with three straight high-end backs. 

Zero RB Targets & Draft Strategy 

There’s no definitive number of rounds that you have to pass on running back for it to be a “Zero RB” draft. It’s more of something you feel in your heart - that sinking feeling that maybe it’s too late. This year, it feels like that happened after round 5-6 when guys like David Montgomery, D’Andre Swift, and Aaron Jones come off the board.

There are two key mistakes I see with the Zero RB strategy. One is not giving yourself a good enough mix of floor and upside. Yes, we need to try to hit a league winner. But you can’t lose your first 4-5 games and put yourself in a hole. Our Dynamic Tier Rankings can help you sort that out. 

The second is not continuing the strategy into the season. We are not just punting the RB position completely. You need to be VIGILANT on the wire. You need to know MORE than everyone else about RB. Contrary to popular belief, this strategy is for RB enthusiasts, not detractors.

Safe Plays

People love to lean into pass-catching backs in PPR. But, historically speaking, it’s the starting back regardless of pass down work that not only offers more consistency but more RB1 and RB2 weeks in general. So it’s smart to try to get a couple of these guys in your mix, even if they are “boring”.

If you can get David Montgomery, great. But it might not really be a true “zero RB” if you are paying the price on Monty. Tony Pollard should once again start, even if he’s splitting with Tyjae Spears. Same for a guy like Brian Robinson thought the mobile upside of Jayden Daniels and presence of Austin Ekeler and even Deebo Samuel worries us.

Two of the cheapest backs who should start for their teams are Rhamondre Stevenson and Najee Harris. Yes, the rookies are exciting. But there are both these guys are two bigger and more established backs in these backfields. There’s a real chance they both start and get the first cracks at the goal line with TreVeyon Henderson and Omarion Hampton rotating in.

There are also some sneaky late guys that could pry away the early down work. Jordan Mason could push Aaron Jones towards more of a pass-catching role, for instance. Ben Johnson has used a split backfield so Roschon Johnson could chop the work with D’Andre Swift in Chicago. In my waiver article each week, I’ll highlight the usage, and Week One is the best time to jump on these types of guys.

Upside Plays

The ultimate upside plays are pass-down backs that take over the starting role as well. When creating a bellcow RB from scratch without the help of an injury, it’s much more realistic that the pass-down RB just proves to be too dynamic than it is for a plodder to start catching balls and have the starter go away.

The more expensive candidates for this are rookies RJ Harvey and TreVeyon Henderson. Guys like Tyrone Tracy, Tyjae Spears, Zach Charbonnett, and Trey Benson have flashed some as candidates to potentially carve out more work this season as well. They are “handcuff plus” type backs at least that could start for you in a pinch.

We also want to target uncertain backfields. The Dallas Cowboys are a prime example. Veterans Javonte Williams and Miles Sanders have gotten all the first-round reps, but rookie Jaydon Blue has some intriguing explosiveness. A guy like Sanders is pretty much free, though, and you can take him quite late. 

The Jaguars' backfield is also wide open. Travis Etienne is the incumbent, though last year he was beaten out for touches by the more efficient Tank Bigsby. Bigsby is a sneaky play to get the starting work in JAX, as Liam Coen last year went with the more efficient Bucky Irving. Of course, then there’s the wildcard rookie Bhayshul Tuten, whom new GM James Gladstone hand-picked. Other backfields with some uncertainty include the Kansas City Chiefs and, with the Quinshon Judkins news, the Cleveland Browns.

Hero RB Targets & Draft Strategy 

Hero RB (or Anchor RB, as some call it) is the watered-down version of Zero RB. It became a lot more popular when Alvin Kamara scored six touchdowns in the championship week. It also got a big boost when notable Zero RB drafter Pat Kerrane won Underdog’s Best Ball Mania III contest with a Hero RB team where he took Austin Ekeler in the first round.

Basically, how this works is that you take one high-end running back and then stick to Zero RB principles from there on out. It allows you to go even deeper into the draft before taking your next RB than Zero RB, as, in theory, you only need to find one other back somewhere along the way on waivers. If you hit on your Hero back then, also snag the breakout on the waiver wire during the season, you can create a lot of leverage as your team will already be loaded at WR, QB, and TE.

The Hero RB targets are the same as the guys we are going after in Robust RB. The deepest name that I personally have done a Hero RB build with is RJ Harvey, who was taken in the 5th round of the SXM Independence Day Invitational after starting my draft with four straight wide receivers. A typical Hero RB draft is going to see someone a little safer up top, however, like taking Bijan Robinson in the first round, that spending the next ~6 or so rounds on four WRs, a QB, and a TE.  

Which Strategy Is Best In 2025?

The best strategy every year is always the same - Be Like Water. It’s never a mistake to use any of the strategies if applied properly. The mistake is forcing one. You should let the board come to you, collecting value in the early rounds. And who you get will dictate which direction your draft will go and which strategy to employ. A weak gamer will sit down at the table and say, “I’m going Zero RB here,” while a strong gamer sometimes will stand up from the table and say, “WR value was there, so I had to pivot to a bit of a Zero RB” build.

That’s why our plan is to know ALL the strategies. Hero RB, Zero RB, Late Round QB, Wait On WR, Bully Tight End, Yin & Yang Tight End, etc. If you know all the strategies, then you will know all the guys you need to target later if you are pivoting to that strategy. That’s the real secret to becoming the strongest competitor in your league. 

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